


play the strings of my heart

by orphan_account



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Musical Instruments, orchestra band au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-20
Updated: 2018-10-20
Packaged: 2019-08-04 19:52:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16353164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: jaehyun wasn’t really supposed to take this seriously, but doyoung changes his mind every time.





	play the strings of my heart

**Author's Note:**

> dojae musician/orchestra band au!
> 
> this was made thanks to some great motivation and some sweet ideas piled up together.

jaehyun smiles fondly as he finishes his set piece, finding the small cround in the cafe clapping at the beautiful performance, he places the bow on the ground as he quickly brings the cello off the small stage, and then fully packing up to go get seated with his friend johnny once again. he slings the case on his back and walks towards the coffee table in the back.

 

his eyebrows furrowed in confusion once he spots his friend talking to an unfamiliar person, thinking the other was greasily flirting again while he was occupied. he approaches the pair with a small smile, seeing as the stranger’s eyes lighten up when their eyes meet. “hello there! you performed really well, yoonoh right? i’m qian kun.” the other greets casually, reaching his hand out for a handshake. jaehyun gladly shakes the hand, “thank you, but please, call me jaehyun.” he replies, taking a seat beside johnny.

 

“johnny told me you were merely a hobbyist?” kun starts off, looking at both men in front of him innocently. “yeah, i just perform from time to time to get extra money.” jaehyun replies straightforwardly, a little confused to why the other became so interested. “would you like to try and make it a profession?” kun continues, his eyes glimmering with hope like an excited puppy.

 

“uh, i’ve never really thought about that.” jaehyun shares, yet in fact he did, but he knows it isn’t a stable job to support his family. kun’s expression visibly falls, but his shoulders remain upwards like he wants to convince jaehyun to try. “please consider it, come to this stadium, an orchestra band will be performing and some will do solos, including the cello.” he pleads, placing an invitation card for two onto the coffee table.

 

“i expect you both to be there!” he states before standing up and leaving the coffee shop, leaving johnny and jaehyun sitting there awkwardly.

 

—

  


jaehyun doesn’t know what he’s doing here, if he’s being honest. he wasn’t really planning to actually go if it weren’t for his younger friend donghyuck that kept bugging him to try it out, since the younger was quite the trumpet player.

 

“oh you actually came!” kun cheered as he spots the two men walking towards the entrance, waving excitedly as another man with ebony coloured hair laughs at the action. jaehyun makes his was to the well-dressed pair with donghyuck trailing behind him, a little too distracted at the grand stadium. “this is doyoung by the way, he plays the violin.” kun introduces, while jaehyun greets him with a small smile and a bow, following them inside the stadium to claim their seats.

 

luckily, they were able to get the best seats, right in the middle where the music won’t deaf you and nobody will cover you that much. soon enough, the stadium started getting filled with multiple people, some even dressed in professional suits and extravagant dresses, giving a big contrast to his hoodie and ripped jeans, he even heard some entitled brat make a comment on how unprofessional their clothes were, but before he got the chance to talk back, the curtains were opening, revealing a complete orchestra band.

 

the whole audience immediately silenced, you can even hear the footsteps of the conductor walking towards the front of the stage, his sharp features glistening under the spotlight. he bowed to the audience and turned around, starting off the whole show with a powerful impression of the orchestra band, he suddenly was hit with the fact that this really was the professional’s stage.

 

group performance to solo performance, not a single one was flawed. it was mesmerizing really, it even left donghyuck’s mouth gape the whole time. it was about to be the third to last act, and the ebony haired male – doyoung walked to the stage confidently was his violin.  he hears the other take a deep breath and plays what was meant to be schubert’s ‘der erlkonig’, it was breathtaking and the way the other executes technique was beautiful. he never really saw the violin in this light till now, and he really was impressed with doyoung.

 

the audience clapped and roared at the end of doyoung’s performance, but jaehyun didn’t want him to stop playing. he was stuck in a daze as he kept thinking of doyoung. until, he was brought back to reality with donghyuck harshly hitting him on the chest, pointing at the new male that’s on stage, whispering “fuck he’s hot and he has a trombone.”

 

—

 

the curtains close and the lights darken signaling them to leave the stadium, but jaehyun and donghyuck were a little too into it to notice, well at least until he feels someone tapping his shoulder, and it was doyoung with a few other orchestra members beside him. “wanna come backstage? the security is gonna kick you out if you stay here.” he says with a small chuckle, and jaehyun swears it sounds just as melodic as his violin, if not more.

 

he dumbly nods, standing up and flicking donghyuck on the head so he could stop staring at the trombone dude, who was currently trying to stuff his trombone back in his case but giving up with a sigh as they start walking again. jaehyun laughs lightheartedly at the scene of the trombone dude looking at donghyuck, both of them clearly stuck in their place, and he had to suppress a loud wheeze when he swears he heard him say “oh fuck you’re really hot.” reminding jaehyun of what donghyuck had commented earlier.

 

doyoung snickers beside jaehyun, making them meet eyes for a moment before smiling at each other, dragging them backstage so they could hang out and pack up before the place closes.

 

the air around them was quite awkward when they couldn’t find of anything to talk about on their way there, but luckily doyoung had the solution to that. “so kun said you play the cello? how did you start?” he asks, looking at jaehyun curiously with his head tilted a little, ‘cute.’ jaehyun thinks. “my mom said my dad used to play the cello professionally, she brought it out the storage for me to play because she said my dad had always wanted to teach me his ways before i was born.” jaehyun explains, a sad smile appearing on his face, the cello was really one of the things that connected him and his father, even though he’s gone.

 

doyoung smiles and pats jaehyun’s back, “you should play for us then, we have extra instruments. and you too, if you play that is.” he suggests, pointing to donghyuck with a thumbs up. “yeah i play the trumpet.” he pipes cheerfully, making doyoung smile wide, “you should make a joint performance with mark over here then, the trumpet and trombone make a good pair.” he comments, opening the door to the backstage room, leaving both of the youngest blushing.

 

“doyoung! jaehyun!” kun greets, who was seeming to have a conversation with the conductor from earlier. doyoung greets back briefly before dashing off somewhere else, leaving jaehyun there blinking confusedly, and the two youths are seemingly having a wonderfully awkward conversation outside. “i’m taeyong, kun told me you’re a cello hobbyist?” the conductor asks, shaking jaehyun’s unresponsive hand. “at this point i think the whole orchestra knows about me and my cello.” jaehyun comments jokingly, his eyes darting to doyoung who’s appearing with presumably his bag and violin case.

 

“we have another performance next month, i want to see you perform a solo or at least a duet.” doyoung states, crossing his arms and sharply gazing at jaehyun with a challenging smile. “i’d probably be a mess with as a solo, and i don’t know anyone that’s willing to do a duet with me.” jaehyun commented, raising his eyebrow at the sudden challenge thrown at him, he really doesn’t know why they’re so interested in him playing.

 

“i’m playing reinhold glière’s berceuse and canzonetta and i need a cellist, do you wanna try?” doyoung suggests again, he’s still against the idea with performing, but performing with doyoung may be not so bad as it seems. jaehyun hesitates to reply to the request, but his shoulders slump in defeat, saying a quiet ‘yes’ as kun and taeyong clap in glee. “we’ll look forward to it then!” they both comment before walking away to probably pack up.

 

doyoung approaches jaehyun with a proud smile, jabbing his phone onto jaehyun’s chest. “give me your number, we’ll practice tomorrow.” he states plainly, making jaehyun freeze as he realizes what he’s getting into, the violinist was really taking this seriously, yet he still doesn’t know why they trust a stranger enough to perform with them. jaehyun complies anyway, entering his number before saying goodbye with the musicians and leaving with donghyuck.

 

on his way home, he receives a message from an unknown number, but he knows it’s doyoung just from the message context.

 

|00:12 a.m.

| tomorrow 9 am, meet me at nct studio entrance

|we’ll practice there, bring your cello with you too.

 

—

  


so there he was, in front of the studio’s entrance with some coffee and his cello case, yawning as he checks the time. he suddenly regrets staying up till 4am to listen to berceuse and canzonetta, practicing a little on his cello so he wouldn’t disappoint the violinist the next day, even if he had johnny complaining about the noise the whole night it’d be somehow worth it. he doesn’t know why he’s suddenly so dedicated to this.

 

“so you really came.” doyoung comments oh so suddenly, making jaehyun jump at the sudden voice. doyoung laughs as he grabs jaehyun’s arm, leading him into the room he already reserved for them. along the way, doyoung’s hand slides down and they were so close to holding hands, until he suddenly let’s go to open the door.

 

“it’s quite spacious isn’t it? don’t mind the saxophone, my friend ten was here earlier and he probably went out to have some breakfast and sleep.” doyoung comments, offering jaehyun to take a seat beside him as he unpacks his things. jaehyun on the other hand grabs two stands for them and takes a seat beside doyoung, taking out his cello and placing it in the right position for him to play. doyoung places the sheet music on the stands for them to look at.

 

“reinhold glière’s berceuse and canzonetta is a duet piece of a violin and a cello, it has a romantic bent to it, a tender berceuse and a crooning canzonetta.” doyoung briefly explains, “we’ll practice for a few hours and then we can take a break.” he states while jaehyun just listens attentively, a little amazed at the other’s professional behaviour.

 

they start off slowly, but pick up the details and notes quickly, since they both had clearly did some practicing beforehand. by then, they had probably been sitting there for the past three hours, time really does fly past when you’re focusing, so they decided to take a break. “you perform in cafe’s don’t you? what do you usually play?” doyoung says out of nowhere taking a quick drink of water, “i usually freestyle it, maybe do some cello renditions of the customer’s requests.” he replies while stretching, making doyoung look at him with widened eyes, almost like a shocked bunny.

 

“freestyle and renditions? damn, i suck at those.” doyoung comments with a huff, leaning back onto his chair, looking at the ceiling with distress, “and some people say that’s why i haven’t been offered thing yet, i haven’t really done extravagant on my own without following music sheets.” he adds with a sad tone to his voice.

 

“hmm what about i teach you how to freestyle after the performance?” jaehyun offers with a small smile, making doyoung jump in his seat and grab his hands excitedly, almost comically. “wait really?” he says hopefully, leaning towards jaehyun’s face with the cutest gummy smile jaehyun has ever seen, yet they didn’t really notice someone walking in on them.

 

“of course, but only if you convince me to consider making cello as my profession.” he says, with doyoung muttering a quiet ‘you’re on jaehyun.’, still ignoring the shuffling noise behind them. they both get startled at the loud sax cutting sharply through the silence, and he was playing ‘careless whisper’ quite dramatically.

 

jaehyun bursts into laughter as soon as he recognizes the song, hearing doyoung sigh and telling the person that he assumes is ten to at least tell them he entered the room. “forgive him, he’s a weird one.” doyoung whispers to jaehyun, leaning in his shoulder to avoid what he sees as a chair cushion.

 

—

 

“are you nervous?” doyoung asks as he holds jaehyun’s hand, squeezing it tightly as he gives a small but nervous smile. he’s hesitating, jaehyun thinks, noticing his hands trembling a little, why was he so nervous? more than jaehyun?

 

“taeyong told me some people from the university i wanted to go to are coming, they’re probably gonna recommend some people and i wanna make a good impression.” doyoung blurts out, and jaehyun can’t help but give him a warm and tight hug. “calm down i’m sure you’ll do amazing, i mean- you wowed me the first time i saw you perform that solo.” he says to reassure the other, rubbing his back affectionately.

 

doyoung only weakly smiles at this, letting go of the with a shaky breath. “alright, let’s do this.” he whispers, taking his violin and walking on stage with jaehyun following behind, and all jaehyun could think of was if doyoung had felt like this the day they met too.

 

he looks at the audience as he takes his seat, holding the cello close to his chest as he mumbled a quiet countdown, and he starts playing as doyoung soon follows right after.

 

they start off with berceuse, a light and dream like melody, doyoung takes the lead and jaehyun follows, the cello’s lower tone and the violin’s higher tone offers a beautiful contrast. then it changes to canzonetta, a much more complex piece with a faster tempo, but it remained just as crisp and light. the spotlights shown on the two performers, the hardworking violinist and the laid back cellist, as if their instruments represented themselves. they were harmonizing, and they were one.

 

the crowd stands up and claps, whistles and roars can be heard as jaehyun and doyoung stares at the audience with the rush pumping through their veins. the hobbyist looks around and then looks at the professional violinist beside him looking back at him with a bright smile, he could really get used to this.

 

‘good job.’ jaehyun mouths as the walk offstage, smiling fondly at doyoung who only hugged him tightly when they arrived backstage.

 

the violin and cello goes together really well, and so does the violinist and the cellist.

 

—

  


doyoung wins their little bet, since he was able to make jaehyun consider playing the cello as his career path. so there jaehyun was, in the same studio they practiced together for a month, sipping his coffee as he waits for doyoung to enter.

 

“jaehyun!” speak of the devil, doyoung appears with a rushed look on his face, panting heavily as he closes the door. “what happened?” jaehyun asks as he pats the seat beside him, a little confused to why doyoung looks so excited and nervous at the same time.

 

doyoung stares at him in the eyes intensely, holding his hands while biting his lips. “i got accepted to the uni.” he states with crescent shaped eyes, “it’s in italy and i have one week to decide before they send me in a plane.” he continues breathlessly, his voice becomes higher in pitch at each word from excitement.

 

jaehyun’s eyes widen as he finally could process the other’s words, smiling widely back at doyoung at the news. “congrats doyoung! i’m proud of you.” he says as he squeezes his hand, but he ignored the little crack in his heart when it dawns on him that doyoung leaves _in one week._

 

“does taeyong and the other’s know?” jaehyun quietly asks, trying to prevent his voice from breaking. “i spammed them with messages, but i wanted to tell you in person.” doyoung replies, engulfing the other in a warm hug.

 

they continue with their little lesson, but the air feels a little different to doyoung, and it didn’t sit well with him. did he say something wrong?

 

jaehyun says he had to leave first, leaving doyoung in the room by himself, thinking.

 

‘oh, it means i have to leave everyone _._ doyoung thought.

 

—

 

it had been one week and doyoung’s on the plane, of course he accepted the offer, this was his dream, _but it also meant he had to leave_ he thinks at the back of his head. the orchestra had happily congratulated him with a farewell party, exchanging numbers to keep in contact with him. it was a good thing, but jaehyun _wasn’t_ there. in fact, he didn’t see jaehyun after the day he told him the news.

 

he had felt really lonely because of that.

 

he was there in italy, and he couldn't contact jaehyun at all. this made the violinist nervous, what had exactly happened to them. why did jaehyun just disappear? after one month of practicing together, their bond naturally tightened, after their performance they were basically attached by the hip. he was the violinist to pair with the cellist.

 

he had performed with other cellists, but it didn’t sound the same way, the cello didn’t blend. the violin he played sounded empty to him, like he needed a cello to complete it, like he needed jaehyun to complete it, for it to sound much fuller, complete.

 

all he knows is that he wants to see jaehyun again.

 

—

  


jaehyun was distressed, he had hidden his cello under his bed, he didn’t even consider looking at it. he didn’t want to play it, because it only reminded him of the person who made him want to pursue it. he didn’t want to hold it, because it’d feel useless without the violinist to lead the way.

 

fuck, he fell deep.

 

he knows doyoung left, but a part of him doesn’t wanna accept that.

 

he wipes the wet tears forming his eyes, he’s been hiding from the other’s, to try to distance himself, so it’d hurt less when doyoung leaves.

 

but god he was wrong.

 

johnny knocks on his door, opening it with a pitiful look on his face when the other was obviously crying.

 

“taeyong wants to talk to you.” he says, letting taeyong inside the room and closing the door for some privacy. “before doyoung left, he had requested for you to join our orchestra band, he would want this.” taeyong started off, knowing it was a sensitive subject. “donghyuck already agreed to join, so if you agree to this, i expect to see you in the nct studio at 8am sharp.” he states with a small smile, patting jaehyun’s back before leaving his room.

 

‘should i?’ jaehyun thought.

 

so there he was the very next day, tapping taeyong’s shoulder with the cello case on his back. “i’m in.” he states.

 

—

  


jaehyun performed a solo, and he gets another standing ovation, it felt great, but it also felt empty. _because doyoung isn’t there beside you_ , his conscience thought.

 

“as expected from mr jung’s son, my father has said great things about your dad.” kun comments at the backstage, patting his back. then jaehyun freezes, taking a while to process the comment. “what you thought you took you in because of a simple rendition?” kun says sassily, pinching the other’s cheek before leaving the room.

 

he had been approached by multiple people, given multiple offering letters, so he went through them and one particular one caught his eyes.

 

this was it, the hobbyist is finally catching up with the professional.

 

it was the same uni that doyoung went to.

 

—

  


jaehyun plays his cello in the practice room, he had been trying to find it all afternoon but luckily one student who knew korean was nice enough to lead him to lead the way, so he’s using what was left of his time before he goes for some dinner.

 

the door opens, and he jumps in his seat, reminding him of when doyoung’s friend, ten was playing careless whisper with the saxophone. he laughs bitterly, ever since he went here everything reminded him of doyoung, and it stressed him out that he still couldn’t find a trace of the male.

 

so he plays his feelings out, playing his cello freestyle just to let out some of his emotions. but instead, he ends up playing the song berceuse and canzonetta.

 

it sounded so dull, it was incomplete.

 

until a beautiful violin started accompanying his cello, it sounded a lot like the day he performed with doyoung. he abruptly stopped playing his cello to look up at whoever was playing, and there he was.

 

the same ebony haired male he fell in love with.

 

“hey hobbyist.”

 

“don’t call me that.”

 

“care to play with me, jaehyun?” doyoung suggests as he walks towards the said male.

 

“of course doyoung, i’ll follow your lead.” jaehyun comments.

 

jaehyun thinks, he wasn’t supposed to take this whole cellist thing seriously and follow his father’s footsteps, but damn does doyoung make him rethink that.

 

the violin and cello are a great pair.

 

and so was the violinist and the cellist.

 

—


End file.
